Project provides Midland High students with experience, ownership

Steve Kuhlmann | skuhlmann@mrt.com

Published
7:45 pm CDT, Thursday, May 7, 2015

MHS engineering students build three can sculptures Thursday, 4-30-15, in Midland Park Mall after working with professional architects from the West Texas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to design and build the structure in a 3-d computer program. Tim Fischer\Reporter-Telegram less

MHS engineering students build three can sculptures Thursday, 4-30-15, in Midland Park Mall after working with professional architects from the West Texas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to ... more

Photo: Tim Fischer

Photo: Tim Fischer

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MHS engineering students build three can sculptures Thursday, 4-30-15, in Midland Park Mall after working with professional architects from the West Texas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to design and build the structure in a 3-d computer program. Tim Fischer\Reporter-Telegram less

MHS engineering students build three can sculptures Thursday, 4-30-15, in Midland Park Mall after working with professional architects from the West Texas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to ... more

Photo: Tim Fischer

Project provides Midland High students with experience, ownership

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While much learning takes place in the classroom, there is nothing quite like a hands-on project to provide students with a real taste of what the professional world is like — even better if it benefits a good cause.

The West Texas Chapter of the American Architects and local architecture firm Parkhill, Smith and Cooper partnered with 14 Midland High School students in the engineering design and problem solving class to design and build three can sculptures now on display at Midland Park Mall. After being taken down May 24, all of the more than 6,000 cans of food will be donated to the West Texas Food Bank.

“I think (the students) learned not only responsibility, but they learned that they had to take initiative and ownership of their work to achieve the actual end result,” said Jesse Ortiz, teacher for the engineering class. “They knew that it was going toward a good cause and they knew that it was going to be in an area where the public would see it, so they really didn’t want it to look bad.”

The 14 students split up into three groups, each designing and constructing their own sculpture with the assistance of a professional architect. The designs chosen were a Midland High School “M,” a Texas flag and an ice cream cone, complete with a cherry on top.

While Parkhill, Smith and Cooper had built the sculptures and donated the food over the past three years, RJ Lopez, an architect with the firm, said the idea to include students in the process was just a natural progression.

“My firm, for the past three years, has raised money, designed and built the sculptures ourselves,” Lopez said. “Along the way, we started realizing that everyone involved already knew how to do what we were doing. In thinking about that, we realized that it would be a great project for kids to learn the architectural process.”

Lopez said what was routine for himself and his colleagues became a “really fun project” for the students who were less familiar with the process of design. He added the students’ enthusiasm and “yearning for knowledge” made for a refreshing experience for the architects who assisted them in their projects.

The student’s excitement was key as one of the project’s main objectives was to let them know that being in a career doesn’t have to be work, Lopez said.

“That was the biggest goal, just to show them that there are options out there where you can actually have fun doing what you’re doing and if you’re having fun, it doesn’t seem like work,” Lopez said. “Even the kids that don’t want to become architects or engineers, in talking with them, it was still a fun project and they didn’t see it as being school work.”

Ortiz made sure his students had the future in mind while working on the project as well, making sure they kept in mind the differences between interacting with adult professionals and their own peers.

“I reminded them that there is only one first impression that you can give,” Ortiz said. “Most high school kids are just thinking about the weekend or what they’re going to do for lunch, so hearing that really caught their attention.”

Thanks to the success of the partnership, Lopez said he hopes to expand the project to more classes and more schools.

“Eventually we would really love to have multiple classes between possibly Midland High and Midland Lee and have between eight to 10 sculptures for more of a competition,” Lopez said. “It would give the kids just another reason to work hard and strive to be the best.”

Along with driving more student involvement, Lopez hopes increased participation could also allow the project to do even more for the community.

“We raised about 6,500 cans this year, but I would love to get to 20,000 cans eventually,” Lopez said. “The food bank is an organization which helps people in their time of need and that need is becoming more apparent as the oil field employment decreases, so we thought it was important that we partner with them to help.”

The sculptures will remain on display in the Sears Court of the Midland Park Mall through May 24.